Record Bribe Attempt: $5mln for Settling Illegal Land Lot Trade
Announced investment project turned out to be elite land fraud.
The record bribe attempt linked to illegal land trade is now being investigated in Belarus. An investor demanded $5mln to bribe Belarus’ Presidential Administration, ej.by says.
The whole story begun when a newly registered joint enterprise TAA OKSESinvest received giant piece of elite land near Minsk— 279 hectares — for realisation of investment project which included the construction of a cottage detached house village with the whole infrastructure: communications, roads, schools, shops, hospitals, etc. It is worth mentioning TAA OKSESinvest managed to be granted the land only three months after the establishment.
The amount of investments was calculated to be worth $430mln. The investor itself (TAA OKSESinvest) had to spend $7mln only. The rest of the sum was planned to be taken from future shareholders.
After the land was given and the investment contract was signed, all the company’s activity stopped for 30 months. However, the economic crime police have recently ceased the attempt of trading that very land.
According to the preliminary information, the CEO of TAA OKSESinvest urged the CEO of the contractor to suborn the officials from the Presidential Administration and the Minsk Region Executive Committee to “promote the positive decision on purchase from the state 279 hectares of the land which was previously provided for TAA OKSESinvest.”
The investigators say the suspect demanded $5mln and also 17 land lots (in total worth $500,000) for the service.
The overall cost of the deal could have made $8mln. The net revenue (after paying the bribe) could have reached ca. $2.5mln.
Still, the role of the Presidential Administration and the Minsk Region Executive Committee remains unclear as newcomer’s receiving such a big lot of land for investment project in a prestigious region nearby Minsk is impossible without participation of influential officials.